Among other disappointments with The Beast Of Babylon was the fact that the fabled hanging gardens of Babylon were nowhere to be seen. It was one of those 7 wonders of the ancient world and I thought that at least we'd get a depiction. Probably not in the budget.
It's the last days of the Babylonian Empire though few want to talk about it. Mostly because they are ruled by a genuine nut case Balthazar played in ancient Snidely Whiplash fashion by Piero Lulli.
The hero of the piece is Gordon Scott formerly a big screen Tarzan with pecs to die for. He's been spending time at the Persian court where among other things they have adapted a monotheistic religion courtesy of Zarathustra and they've developed a toleration policy for religious and ethnic minorities.
Not so in Babylon where minorities if they're young and beautiful women are tossed into a fiery pit as sacrifice to the head Deity Ishtar. With the emperor getting appropriate jollies.
A lot of recycled material from other Peplum films gives The Beast of Babylon a rather tired look to it.
And in a film centered in Babylon I figured to see those hanging gardens.